


Alternate Endgame Ending

by MoonStoneAndStars



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:42:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22754203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonStoneAndStars/pseuds/MoonStoneAndStars
Summary: Short development in which Tony Edward Stark isn't the one who snaps, but good man Steven Grant Rogers does.By other words, a small band-aid for everyone who is still bittersweet about the ending of a decade of movies.
Kudos: 9





	Alternate Endgame Ending

Steve is on the ground when Captain Marvel gets hit by the power stone, keeping consciousness is hard. Suddenly, Tony tries to hold Thanos, who punches him hard on the stomach, and Steve has never been more awake.

His eyes widen, and his minds tricks him for a second: he sees Dr. Erskine being shot, Bucky falling off a train, his plane diving into the ice, Iron Man falling off the sky out of a portal, Natasha and Sam arrested inside a van, the Winter Soldier trying to punch him to death, Ultron cutting the strings, Steve burying his shield on Tony's arc reactor, Bucky turning to dust, Thor decapitating Thanos, Clint falling on his knees, Bruce throwing the bench to the lake.

War: Steve has never stopped seeing war.

When his mind steps back into reality, Tony is on the ground, unconscious, and Thanos is sliding the gauntlet into his hand.

And Steve has never felt this angry before. He throws his shield one last time, the broken middle scratches Thanos' arm, the surprise factor is enough to stop the titan from snapping once more. Steve races towards Thanos, lightning coursing through him, and hits him with all the rage he has been building up ever since the day his mother died.

Thanos defies him "I am inevitable."

Steve holds the gauntlet open with both his hands, just like he did five years ago in Wakanda. But this time, when Thanos hits him on his face, lightning surrounds the gauntlet, making it fall off his hand.

It all happens too fast, the metal surrounds Steve's hand and forearm, the power and pain surge through his body.

Steve snaps and the war is over.

* * *

"Cap! Cap! C'mon!"

Steve is being shaken by Tony, but the world seems so out of place, it all seems so blurry. Steve is too exhausted, feeling as fragile as he was before the serum, and he could swear he has the same trouble breathing as when he had his asthma attacks, back in the 20's. Dust flies around him.

"Hey, Rogers, c'mon. We won, and we did it together, uh? Don't leave us now, Steve, I won't be able to handle it."

Steve forces a faint smile, and he can see Tony is tearing up.

Someone lands by their side "Hey Cap, don't you quit on us now, you hear me?" Sam's shaky voice makes Steve turn his head. The movement is slow but he still has some energy left.

"Hi Sam."

Sam grabs both his hands "Steve, just rest, alright? We will take care of you, get you a good hospital, or..."

Steve shakes his head no and smiles at him, slowly sliding the broken shield next to him towards Sam "You're a good man, Sam."

Steve only fully realizes he is laying on the ground when someone grabs his face – left side warm, right side metal cold. He is met with long hair and a full bearded face, but those clear blue eyes take him back a whole century ago, back to when Steve was a scrawny Brooklyn kid with blood running down his nose and a purple eye. Bucky's soft voice takes him home "You're a punk, did you know that?"

Steve tries to laugh but blood comes out of his mouth instead. It's the first time he remembers how it felt when he was shaking apart in bed, almost dying from a severe pneumonia. A century later, Steve once again knows what it's like to be dying. 

And it's the same person that stood by his side on his bed that stays by his side on the floor. Bucky is crying, he can recognize it on his voice – Bucky always cried whenever Steve lied in bed shaking apart from pneumonia. "Jerk..." Steve manages with a hint of humor, but then his raspy voice turns solemn "Buck, I think- I think it's the end of the line."

Bucky nods and smiles tenderly at him, then rests his forehead against his "I'm right here with you, pal. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you more, but I'm right here, now. I love you buddy, I'm right here with you..." Tears are strolling down his face and his fingers gently trace Steve's cheekbones.

Steve's chest barely waves up and down anymore. He smirks for a second and whispers "Thank you" to Bucky and to everyone in the battle field at the same time.

Bucky hears one last breath. Steve's chest is no longer moving up and down.

FRIDAY confirms what Tony fears the most, and his tears break down like waterfalls. And in a gesture that would never had seemed possible, Tony places his hand on the back of the murderer of his parents, who sobs loudly for his dead best friend. Both cry together, and Sam can't let go of Steve's hands, the shield rests on his knees.

Around them, everybody kneels.

* * *

The sky is clear and the birds are finally chirping. Traffic, movement and laughter are heard all over the town except on a rather small part, a little cemetery on Brooklyn.

35 people stand around two fresh graves. None of them say anything.

Steven Grant Rogers is the grave in the middle. On its left is Sarah Rogers, on its right is Natalia Alianovna Romanoff.

Steve rests with his family.

Over Steve's grave are placed three things: an arc reactor, his broken shield and his, Sam and Bucky's dog tags. Over Natasha's grave are a pair of ballet shoes, a silver necklace of an arrow and a shiny orange stone.

* * *

Tony is in a conference room. The journalists in front of him are dead quiet.

"Everybody wants a happy ending, right? But it doesn't always roll that way.

This time, it didn't for them. But this is what Nat and Cap wanted, your happy ending. They both wanted families to be reunited, to get something like a normal version of the planet restored, if there ever was such a thing."

Tony let's out a small laugh.

"God, what a world. Universe, now. If you told me ten years ago that we weren't alone, let alone, you know, to this extent- I mean, I wouldn't have been surprised, but come on. The epic forces of dark and light that have come in to play... And imagine how it has felt to someone who was born in 1918, went 70 crazy years on ice and woke up to all of this. To protect all of this.

And for better or worse, this is the reality my daughter is gonna have to find a way to grow up in. Morgan and every one of your kids."

Tony shoots a small playfull smile at his daughter and wife, who stand on the corner of the conference room, then returns to the public.

"So I thought I better call in this meeting, to get it all clear. And to honor the untimely death of Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers. I mean, not that death at any time isn't untimely. This time travel thing we've pulled off, it got me sleepless nights, and both Natasha and Steve payed the ultimate price. I've been told, when the whole ordeal about SHIELD secretly having HYDRA inside, Steve gave a speech that went along the lines «The price of freedom is high, it always has been. And it's a price I'm willing to pay». Cap kept to his words, no matter what. And Nat redeemed herself from all she grew up to do in her past, she got rid of all the red. They were the best of us, and in the end, they both sacrificed for all of us.

But then again, that's the hero gig. Part of the journey is the end."

Tony smiled at the audience.

"Everything worked out exactly the way it was supposed to.

We've fought our battles, we've protected the world the best we could. Yes, we did fail sometimes, but that's part of being human, right? The world will always need the Avengers, and the world will always have them. But we need new blood, blood that can fight the threats that can and certainly will appear, blood that is prepared to fight the entire Universe at once.

The idea of the Avengers Initiative was to form a group of remarkable people, people that could become more, people that could fight the battles that you wouldn't be able to. Me, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Thor and Clint never thought it would reach these proportions, but we didn't quit, we managed around, some more heroically than others. I think this is time we rest- at least this is the time I rest. The new blood is coming, and I promise you: you will always have the Avengers."

Behind Tony and all around the conference room, holograms of all the new Avengers are displayed, just like statues of Greek gods displayed on a temple. The journalists' eyes shine with hope. Then they turn their attention to the one who started it all, to bid their farewell.

"My name is Tony Stark. And I was Iron Man."

* * *

Steve is standing up in the water. Everything around him is orange. A soft music plays in the distance, Steve recognizes the sound of the trumpet, and a shape is far enough for him to be able to recognize it.

Suddenly, a friend appears beside him "Does this mean we won?"

Steve looks at her, her red hair matches the orange environment. She looks serene, as always. Steve nods "It was all worth it, what we both did."

The Black Widow's marble expression fails, her eyebrows flinch and her mouth twitches a little, then her voice comes out strange, broken, low and soft "What are you doing here?"

Time does no longer exists and space is maleable - they might as well be dead or instead in a funeral in a church in London, back in 2016. Steve smiles honestly, and the roles change "I didn't want you to be alone."

Nat smiles at him, the real honest smile she so rarely allowed people to see, and then kisses his cheek "Go on, Steve. She has been waiting for you."

Steve nods and walks towards the shape, the lyrics to the song start to become clearer and clearer.

_Never thought that you would be_   
_Standing here so close to me_   
_There's so much I feel that I should say_   
_But words can wait until some other day_

The shape is a woman, wearing a red dress. She turns around and smiles at him. Peggy looks just like the same as when Steve returned with the 107th, when she entered the bar.

_Kiss me once, then kiss me twice_   
_Then kiss me once again_   
_It's been a long, long time_   
_Haven't felt like this, my dear_   
_Since I can't remember when_   
_It's been a long, long time_

Peggy reaches his hand towards him and Steve doesn't hesitate. After all, it's a date that has been waiting for 80 years.

_You'll never know how many dreams_   
_I've dreamed about you_   
_Or just how empty they all seemed without you_   
_So kiss me once, then kiss me twice_   
_Then kiss me once again_   
_It's been a long, long time_

Steve finally has his dance.


End file.
